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James Gordon
Commissioner James "Jim" Gordon is the Commissioner of Gotham City Background Gordon grew up in Gotham. It was not a nice city, even then. The depression had left the opening organized crime needed to get a strangehold on the city, and his contemporary Thomas Wayne would not begin his attempt to clean up the city for many years. Still, Gordon made it through with a strong sense of justice and morality, and, to serve his country, he joined the military as soon as he turned 18. He dedicated himself fully to his training, becoming quite the soldier. However, his time with the military came to a close without the young Corporal ever seeing combat. He returned to Gotham, joining the police force. He quickly made a name for himself as a good cop of considerable skill and strong moral character. Of course, when this strong moral character lead to him gunning down a corrupt fellow officer and his wife as they were leaving the scene of a crime, he found himself transferred to Chicago. Too stubborn, or perhaps just too dedicated to justice, he didn't take this as the lesson it was likely meant to be and brought his same hunt for corruption to the Windy City, proving quite successful in exposing dirty cops and corruption in the system. This made him about as many friends as it did in Gotham, earning him a promotion to Lieutenant and a transfer back to the city he grew up in. Once again failing to take a hint, Gordon continued in Gotham much as he had before he left, though with signs of improvement thanks in no small part to the contributions by the Wayne family. Sadly, he wasn't back in Gotham long before he responded to a shots fired call, finding two corpses, a scattered pearl necklace, and a distraught 8 year old boy. The young Bruce Wayne was left in the care of the family butler, and disappeared from the public scene for quite some time. Gotham didn't get much better as time passed. Gordon did his best to clean up the city from within, but, having risen to the rank of Captain, he often found himself shackled by procedure and politics. To make things worse, the criminals were getting worse and weirder, and vigilantism was on the rise. So, while some guy who dresses up like a Bat was getting in fights with a clown in a suit, Gordon struggled. It wasn't all bad news after he returned to Gotham, though. He met his wife, was married, and struggled to begin a family. After years of trying fruitlessly, he received news that his brother and his wife had died in an accident, orphaning their 12 year old daughter Barbara. Jim didn't need to think on it long, immediately taking the young girl in, soon adopting her officially, raising her as if she were his own daughter, rather than his niece. Even better news, shortly after this, the Gordons successfully conceived their first child, James Junior. Back at work, however, the idealistic and determined Captain was getting more and more frustrated with the constraints put upon him. He played by all the rules, but the criminals and the corrupt, by their very nature, didn't. It was then that he had a revelation. The system was broken. It was insufficient, something else was needed. It was when reading a Newspaper detailing the latest adventures of Gotham's Caped Crusader that he had a second epiphany. The 12th Precinct soon sported a custom Spotlight on it's roof, and Gordon's partnership with the Batman began. Together, the pair began to make a difference. With Batman, and later Robin, helping Gordon's success rate, his climb through the ranks accelerated, and he figured out that what was needed was not to remove all corruption in the system overnight but to find the few, the stubborn, the incorruptible, and clean up the city inch by inch. Gordon soon assembled a small, trustworthy band of men, and, as Chief of Police, set down to the task of eliminating the crippling corruption, finding another ally in the form of the District Attorney, Harvey Dent. However, it was not to last, and Harvey was soon driven mad and heavily scarred, the crusader against corruption becoming just another mad mobster. This shook Gordon deeply, but, after the death of the current Commissioner, he rose to the position. Now even higher in the chain, Gordon had new levels of control, and could really dedicate himself to clearing up the force's corruption. While all of this was happening, his daughter in every way that mattered had been growing up, and eventually became Batgirl. Gordon began to suspect Barbara's vigilante activities fairly early, but didn't confront her with it, if only to avoid the confirmation that would force him to act. However, as Barbara grew up and began attending college, she was out less at night, easing his fears. However, things would take a turn for the worse when, on answering the door for Gordon, Barbara was immediately shot in the spine by Joker. This kicked off an evening of hell for the Commissioner, with the Clown Prince of crime making a direct, targeted attempt to break the strong-willed ally of the law. He was degraded and tortured in every way Joker could come up with, but stayed resolute, maintaining his sanity and is morals. Barbara, however, would lose the use of her legs, a casualty of the Joker's torments. In the aftermath, Gordon took a harder line on the super-villains of Gotham. With the transfer of Metropolis's own Maggie Sawyer, he decided to copy a successful Metropolis program, founding the Major Crimes unit, a unit, headed by Sawyer, tasked with dealing with all the threats that, for most of the lawman's career, had been delegated to the capes. He staffed the unit with men and women of character he believed he could trust, bringing together Gotham City's finest under one command. For a while, the new unit worked smoothly, and things were beginning to look up for Gotham. The city wasn't clean, but it was beginning to make real, visible strides. However, Gordon's marriage had begun to suffer, leading to an eventual divorce. It was not long, however, before Gordon found a new love, Sarah, the pair marrying, sharing many attributes that Barbara Eileen had lacked. Then a 7.6 Earthquake hit, all but leveling the city. The US Government evacuated the city and then declared it a No Man's Land, sealing it off from the rest of the country. Gordon was one of those who stayed behind willingly, knowing the evacuation did not get everyone out of Gotham and knowing that the civilians would need what protection the police could give. However, with no official backing, Batman missing, and the logistical strain of the ruined city, the police were working at diminished capacity, becoming just another faction in the massive gang war that consumed the city. Hoping to secure the territory held by the 'Blue Boys' for those under their protection, Gordon approached his former friend, Harvey Dent, now known as Two-Face and formed an uneasy allegiance. Eventually, however, Gordon was betrayed, and, to add insult to injury, put on trial for breaking the alliance. Acquitted thanks to Renee Montoya's appealing directly to what remained of Harvey Dent within Two-Face's fractured mind, Gordon was able to tough it out and maintain some semblance of order until the Government order was reversed, and Gotham could be rebuilt. Gordon and every man under his command earned a commendation for their service, and most found themselves promoted. However, with all things, things were mixed for Gordon, his new wife having been murdered during the crisis by the Joker, yet another blow dealt by the man who had already changed the course of his daughter's life. After surviving everything he had, you would think Gordon was invincible. However, he was soon to be proven wrong. Though he had greatly reduced the corruption within the police force, he had not eliminated it, as evidenced when a corrupt cop shot him, landing him in a coma in the hospital while those closest to him in the force struggled to catch his killer while dealing with the attempted murder a man they'd worked with for so long. Though they suspect was eventually brought in for questioning, they were unable to file charges, in part due to the very corruption that compelled the perpetrator to make an attempt on Gordon's life. Gordon eventually made a full recovery, but the event was a reminder that corruption still exists in Gotham. Personality It takes a special kind of person to be a cop, let alone a cop in Gotham. Someone who reached the office of Police Commissioner while staying straight in a city as crooked as Gotham? That takes a strength of character and grit that only one in a million have, if it's even that common. James Gordon is one such man. He's been on the up and up since he first joined the force as a young man. Having risen to the top of his profession, he's dedicated to driving out the corruption that plagues his city. It's a hard fight, having already taken years, but he's just stubborn enough to stick with it. Logs NPC'ed Logs *2011-07-25 - Bat Signals are not Pagers! - Improptu use of the Bat Signal by Kara. Supergirl meets Robin and he's a-smittin'. Player's Logs *2013-02-01 - Mister, Please Be Good To Me - The Dolls are caught by Gordon doing not so good, and Clark ends up getting called to claim them. *2013-04-09 - Bat-Chat - The Bat-Signal flashes across the night sky of Gotham, and Batgirl responds, and has a heart to heart with James Gordon, with few words being spoken. *2013-05-21 - Sixteen Birds in Five Fighting Rings: Part 3 - Showdown in Gotham - It's a major fight when members of the Birds of Prey join up with Commissioner Gordon to take down Roulette and Daggett's underground kidnapping fighting ring! *2013-09-20 - Hat Boss - The Birds of Prey follow up on Oracle's hunch about the Falcone Crime Family, and get more than they bargained for! *2013-09-27 - Meet Damian! - Bruce Wayne introduces his newfound son, Damian Wayne, to the world - and to shocked friends. *(GG: 2013-12-28 - Joker on the Loose!) *2014-02-21 - The Awakening: ...From the Shadows... - Gordon meets an old friend. Questions are asked, more left unanswered. *2014-11-25 - Fear, Riots and You - Random rioting in Gotham. Category:DC Feature Category:DC Support Category:Gotham Category:DC Taken